Published March 9, 1992 | Version v1
Journal article

Collisionless absorption in sharp-edged plasmas

  • 1. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Biophysikalische Chemie, D-3400 Goettingen-Nikolausberg (Germany)
  • 2. The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BZ (United Kingdom)

Description

The absorption of subpicosecond, obliquely incident laser light is studied using a 11/2D particle-in-cell code. Density scale lengths from L/λ=0.01 to 2 and laser irradiances between Iλ2=1014 and 1018 W cm-2 μm2 are considered. ''Vacuum heating'' [F. Brunel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 52 (1987)] dominates over resonance absorption for scale lengths L/λ<0.1, and is most efficient when vosc/c congruent 3.1(L/λ)2. Absorbed energy is carried mainly by a ''superhot'' electron population with Uhot∼(Iλ2)1/3--1/2

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review Letters
Journal Volume
68
Journal Issue
10
Series
Phys. Rev. Lett.
Journal Page Range
1535-1538
ISSN
0031-9007
CODEN
PRLTA